Copyright © 2024 Fifth Reformed Church.
Serve the Church
One of the best ways to get connected with others is to consider serving on a team. There are many ways to volunteer at Fifth. Below are just a few of them.
Prayer Team
We are working to prioritize prayer in our congregation. Our Prayer Team joins together in lifting up the prayer requests we receive as a church.
Contact us to learn more and join our Prayer Team.
Community Group Leader
Community Groups are the primary way we encourage people to seek belonging and connection at Fifth. Attending worship on Sunday is an initial step, but when you feel ready for the next step a Community Group might be for you. And every Community Group needs a leader (or two). If you have a passion for guiding and shepherding a small group in learning, growing and serving together, let us know by contacting us.
Children’s Ministries
We want to raise kids who live and lead like Jesus. We need people who will love on and invest in kids from babies to fifth graders. Whether it’s through showing babies the comfort and safety of Jesus, leading small group time in the classroom, or teaching through the art of storytelling in Large Group, Fifth Kids Volunteers are passionate about empowering kids to hear and know the voice of God.
To learn more about how you can become a part of our Fifth Kids Team please contact our Children’s Ministry Director.
Student Ministries
Our middle school youth group is called JHAF (Junior High At Fifth), and our senior high youth group is called YAF (Youth At Fifth). Teams of volunteers engage students in a variety of ways – from participating in weekly gatherings to serving on mission trips or retreats. For more information about ways you might serve, contact us and we’ll connect you with the student ministries team.
Worship Arts
The word “worship” means to honor or praise. For the Christ-follower, worship is not an option. God is the one perfect being in the entire universe, completely worthy of worship. He requests, seeks, and demands that his created beings (that’s us!) honor him. Worship is more than singing; it is a life posture of honoring God through obedience and acknowledgment of his worth. God desires that all people everywhere will come to know him and worship him.
“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.” (John 4:23)
How we worship as a community varies. We sing, read, and hear the Word of God and pray. We might use a band or organ, and trumpet, or anything in between. Worship will be led by people of all ages – sometimes energetically, sometimes reverently. We value beauty and the arts in our worship space, as we acknowledge the God who has and is creating beauty. At any given worship experience, you will find people from many age groups worshipping together.
At Fifth, we strive to grow active worshippers rather than passive observers. We consider worship a verb. We worship at 10AM each Sunday morning. In addition, we have unique special worship events during the church seasons like Lent and Advent. We’d love it if you join us in-person or online!
Opportunities to Serve:
- Choirs: handbells, adult, kids
- Worship Band: all ages and includes singers, guitars, mandolins, keyboards of all types, drums and percussion
- Instrumentalists: violins, clarinets, horns, dulcimer…you name it, we can/will use your instrumental gifts
- Media Arts Team: audio, video/camera, computer presentations/projection
- Dance Team: 1st grade through adult
- Scripture presenters/readers, writers, or actors
- Worship space design and décor
Please contact Our Worship Director, Janna Lange, to get involved at jlange@fifthrc.org.
Fifth Church has been situated in the city of Grand Rapids for 135 years. We are a church in the city and for the city, and we invite you to join us in serving this city we love. You do not need to be a member of the church to help out. In fact we need the help of the whole community to make a real difference in these areas.
About ten years ago, our church had a strategic conversation about what we wanted to be about in the city. Rather than making nominal impact in many places, we chose to focus on a few key partnerships in the city so we might make a significant impact in a few places. The areas of our focus are Ending Homelessness, Welcoming Refugees, and Building Literacy.
Ending Homelessness
Our city partner in ending homelessness is an organization called Family Promise. Their stated mission is “Ending homelessness… one family at a time.” We’ve been an anchor congregation in their Interfaith Hospitality Network since 1997. And in that time, we’ve had this impact:
- Provided 88 weeks of hosting families overnight
- Offered 26,400 volunteer hours
- Served 9240 meals
- Provided a total value of $970,615 to families emerging from homelessness
Family Promise has asked Fifth to contribute $50,000 to their Room to Grow $6 million capital campaign. The money will allow them to serve more homeless families in Grand Rapids. To learn more about the Room to Grow campaign, visit HERE.
Contact us to learn how you might begin to invest in ending homelessness in Grand Rapids.
Welcoming Refugees
Our city partner in welcoming refugees is an organization called Bethany Christian Services. We began by welcoming a refugee family who had to flee their native land because of violence and had been living in a refugee camp for nearly 14 years. Since that beginning, we have welcomed over 75 people to the U.S. through placements made possible by Bethany. Most of these friends come from war-torn lands, where it is so unsafe that they received official status from the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and were placed in a receiving country.
One of the friends we welcomed to the U.S. is now on staff at Fifth as our Refugee Ministries Coordinator. He would love to share with you how you might get involved personally in helping refugee friends build a new life in Grand Rapids.
Contact us to learn how you might begin to invest in welcoming refugees to Grand Rapids.
Building Literacy
Our city partner in building literacy is Mulick Park Elementary School. We partner with Plymouth Heights Christian Reformed Church and Mayflower Congregational Church to serve as reading tutors for early elementary students.
This partnership emerged when our three churches approached the school to ask how we might help. The principal at that time asked us to invest in helping get their early elementary students up to grade level in reading.
The principal gave us a very simple pep talk: “Studies tell us that if students don’t achieve reading level proficiency by grade 4, the likelihood that they will drop out of high school increases significantly. If a student drops out of high school, the likelihood that they will be incarcerated increases significantly. So, if you want to invest in a safer and more just community – help kids learn to read!” We’ve been helping ever since, and we invite you to join us.
Contact us to learn how you build literacy in Grand Rapids by partnering with Mulick Park Elementary.